It’s a valuable addition to a home or business—well-landscaped grounds with eye-pleasing greenery and colorful flowers. How good it would be if those attractive landscapes were also saving energy and contributing to sustainability! Increasingly, designers, planners, builders, and developers are looking at the landscapes that surround the homes they build and responding to client requests for energy conservation outside as well as in. And many cities recognize the critical role landscapes play in increasing property values and reducing the cost of providing water and handling storm water runoff. The Sustainable Sites Initiative is taking green building standards outside. This partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden is working with a diverse group of supporting organizations to develop the first national guidelines and standards for sustainable landscapes. The result will be incentives to create large and small commercial and noncommercial landscapes that contribute to the good of the environment and improve our overall quality of life. This effort grew from the recognition on the part of landscaping professionals and others that there are no national green standards for landscapes as ...